Garbage disposal is a very serious problem in the United States and in many other areas of the world. Land fills in most urban areas are becoming over burdened and new sites are extremely difficult to establish because people generally do not want them in their communities. Many people own a mechanical garbage disposal unit which grinds up kitchen type garbage which is then flushed down the drain.
Another solution to garbage is incineration. Various types of incinerators have been proposed, and some are in use to treat waste such as radioactive, toxic or other hazardous wastes, but none have gained wide spread use. There has been no significant use of incinerators for residential garbage disposal.
Several incinerator designs have been proposed which utilize a microwave source such as a magnetron to assure combustion of the garbage. Microwaves are very effective at heating water; therefore, this energy source is good for drying the garbage. The absorption of microwaves in other materials varies widely. However, once garbage begins to burn and plasmas are generated the plasmas are very good absorbers of microwave energy.
Silicon carbide is known to be a good absorber of microwave energy. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,937,411, Suzuki proposed the use of a silicon carbide plate at the bottom of one of his combustion chambers for the purpose of absorbing microwaves to increase the heat input into the chamber.
Prior art microwave incinerators are typically complicated, expensive and unreliable. What is needed is a better microwave incinerator low enough in cost and simple enough in operation that it can be made available to the residential market.